Auschwitz: The Nazis and the 'Final Solution' 

The history of the Final Solution phase of the Nazi Holocaust, particularly with the most infamous of the death camps.

Stars:

Samuel West, Linda Ellerbee, Gert Heidenreich

Cast

Series cast summary:
Samuel West	...	Himself - Narrator 6 episodes, 2005
Linda Ellerbee	...	Herself - Hostess 6 episodes, 2005
Gert Heidenreich	...	Narrator in German version 6 episodes, 2005
Linda Hunt	...	Narrator 6 episodes, 2005
Horst-Günter Marx	...	Rudolph Höss 6 episodes, 2005
Klaus Mikoleit	...	Henrich Himmler 6 episodes, 2005
Grazyna Blecka-Kolska		4 episodes, 2005
Klaus Michal Zejdler		4 episodes, 2005
Dario Gabbai	...	Himself - Jewish Prisoner, Auschwitz 1944-1945 / ... 3 episodes, 2005
Oskar Gröning	...	Himself - SS Garrison, Auschwitz / ... 3 episodes, 2005
Libusa Breder	...	Herself - Jewish Prisoner, Auschwitz / ... 3 episodes, 2005
Eva Mozes Kor	...	Herself - Jewish Prisoner, Auschwitz / ... 3 episodes, 2005
Jozef Paczynski	...	Himself - Polish Political Prisoner, Auschwitz 3 episodes, 2005

Storyline

An in-depth visual and verbal account of one of the most notorious episodes of World War 2. Using location shots and combining CGI, for a 3-D realism, this is a documentary, through a timeline, showing its conception, ideals, horrors and liberation of the Death Camp that is Auschwitz and its role in "The Final Solution". Using reconstructions of key events by actors playing major Nazi hierarchical roles and real interviews from parties of all sides; ex-prisoners, old Schutzstaffel (SS) members and witnesses. Using archive footage conjoined with reflective, contemporary imagery it is a vivid and thorough historical telling of the atrocities of a political ideology that gave nothing but fear and death.

---

Plot Keywords:

nazi | final solution | death camp | auschwitz | ss | 

---

Genres:

Documentary | History | War

---

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English German Polish Hungarian Slovak

Release Date:

11 January 2005 (UK)

Also Known As:

Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), KCET Hollywood

Technical Specs

Runtime:

285 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The currency Oskar Goening is seen sorting through in the safe is old US currency. During WWII, the currency would have been German, then current or Weimar era, not from the United States.

---

Alternate Versions

Also shown on 1.33:1 aspect ratio in some TV releases.

---

Connections

Referenced in Hitler's Place in History: The Faking of Adolf Hitler for History (2005)

User Reviews

The BBC does it again

This is a superbly produced documentary, based largely on information that has come to light since information from the eastern bloc countries and former Soviet Union became accessible.

The documentary comprises mainly of interviews with surviving SS soldiers and surviving prisoners from the Auschwitz and similar camps. It uses CGI special effects, combined with film of the Auschwitz camps to achieve the most realistic reconstruction of how it looked, and how it operated. Dramatisations of various meetings and events have been authentically reconstructed with well cast actors.

The stories from the survivors, particular in the episode about children, are the most moving I've ever seen in a documentary. The combination of original photographs, moving music and a first hand account from a survivor make these stories most poignant.

It does not demonize the Nazi's, but gives in insight into the mentality that pervaded the regime. It shows them as lacking empathy. We see evidence that not only the Germans, but many French, many Hungarians and many Slovakians were only too willing to help deport their Jews; even the British Police, on the Nazi occupied Channel Islands, were willing to send Jews to the east. Finally, the documentary shows how the surviving Jews, or their return to their homeland, were treated badly by their fellow countrymen.

This documentary shows that what happened in the holocaust happened because humans, not just Nazi's, are capable doing terrible things to humanity, given a certain set of circumstances.